The invention relates to electric circuit components and, more particularly, to inductors and filters suitable for high-current applications.
Power supply systems, such as uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), often employ passive filters that are used to suppress high frequency emissions that may create interference and disrupt the operations of sensitive equipment. In some applications, such filters may need to be able to support relatively large currents, e.g., currents which may exceed one thousand amperes.
Conventional high-current filter designs commonly are constructed by coiling wire or by wrapping wire around a ferrite core. To construct filters, these inductors may be connected to capacitors using terminal blocks or other type of wired connections.
Such filter designs may work effectively for filter applications at relatively low currents but, for higher current filter applications, terminal block connections may become cumbersome and unreliable. Multiple heavy-gauge cables connected in parallel may be needed to support large currents, which may necessitate the use of multiple terminal blocks. Additional terminal blocks may introduce losses and increase the likelihood of bad connections that may lead to overloads or other malfunctions.